Saturday, 6 April 2013

Maurice Brinton on Power in our society.

A Question of Power

1969

Published: in Solidarity
Leaflet, July 1969Transcribed: by Jonas HolmgrenProofed: by George Poulados

Few of us run our own lives. This is because we have no
control over the main decisions that affect us. These decisions are made by
small self-perpetuating minorities. This situation cannot be "democratically"
changed. What our rulers call "democracy" is a system which operates for their
own protection. As long as their "democracy" is not seriously challenged, their
dominating position in society is secure.

Their threatened use of violence is intended to frustrate
any challenge. It is implicit in the large police force, the courts, and the
armed forces which they control. The limited freedom that their "democracy"
allows us is further restricted or curtailed altogether whenever they think
their power is seriously threatened.

They hold the power to maintain their power. This is key to
their security. They determine the kind of education provided, and the ways and
means of providing it. By controlling what and how people are taught, those who
rule us seek to preserve the structure of existing society. Children are
educated first through the family - i.e. through the already-conditioned
parents. Then the education factories (schools and universities) take over.
Their aim is to produce people conditioned to fit into this rat-race
society.

Workers created trade unions and political parties to change all
this. But gradually adopting similar patterns of organization to those of
their oppressors, and by concentrating the struggle almost solely on improving
working conditions and living standards, the original revolutionary intentions
have been bypassed. Working people have gained considerable material advantages
but they have lost control of their own organizations. Today the hierarchies are
in control. They can neither be removed nor brought back to the initial aim of
freeing people.

Those who dominate production dominate society. So long as
they have their kind of industrial stability, control will remain in their
hands. This control enables them to continue deciding what is to be produced,
who is to produce it, where, when how, and in what quantities. All this
conflicts with the interests of the real producers - the workers. Those who run
our lives continually seek ways of blurring the conflict and of manipulating
workers into accepting that management alone is capable of making these
decisions.

The union hierarchy assists them in this fraud. While acting
as middlemen in the labour market, the union bosses do all they can to frustrate
any awareness in workers of their own ability to run industry. In fact,
so-called working class organizations are today an essential part of the set up.
The formation of new unions or parties would not solve the problem. In today's
conditions, they would suffer the same fate as the old ones.

But the system is contested. There is a constant struggle in
which the objective is self-management. In a large majority of disputes, workers
have taken real democratic decisions to act without the consent of the union
bureaucrats (so-called unofficial strikes). This is one of the signs that our
rulers' "industrial stability" is under strain. The strain is also visible in
the education factories, where students are increasingly demanding the right to
take decisions on fundamental issues. There are many other signs of the crisis
that is affecting every aspect of this society.

Solidarity participates in the struggle wherever possible.
We try to expose the true situation. We seek to strengthen the confidence of
working people in their own ability to manage their own lives - at
work and outside of it. People's reliance on others to do things for them has
led to defeat after defeat. It is time for victories! Victories depend on people
consciously taking action themselves. To help in the development of this
consciousness is the only reason for the existence of Solidarity.